Cosmical: 11/01/2005

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

ZEN

Give it a try!!
ZEN

Jack London: The Star Rover (The World of Jack London)

I read this years ago, but could not recall the title and everyone who I mentioned it to murmured that I was a nutter. Well, I found it. It is a very interesting book from the early part of the last century and different than London's other writings...Though it certainly describes an adventure.
Jack London: The Star Rover (The World of Jack London)

I know you are out there!

I know there are readers out there, not many, but some. I check! However, if no one leaves any comments, I will be forced to terminate this blog with extreme prejudice. I started it at first as a way to keep my website surfing in order, but found that strangers actually read it! So for it!

Friday, November 25, 2005

ESA - Aurora Exploration Programme

Europe to Mars? Why not...we have found that international cooperation in manned space flights leads to a horse designed by committee (see International Space Station). Competition may be the road to Mars (Where are Hope and Crosby when we need them?)
ESA - Aurora Exploration Programme

Saturday, November 19, 2005

The Speed of Gravity

How fast is gravity???
The Speed of Gravity

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is half-way to Mars!

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Dwayne Brown (202) 358-1726
NASA Headquarters, Washington
News Release: 2005-164 November 18, 2005

Mars-Bound Nasa Craft Tweaks Course, Passes Halfway Point

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter successfully fired six engines for about 20 seconds today to adjust its flight path in advance of its March 10, 2006, arrival at the red planet.

Since its Aug. 12 launch, the multipurpose spacecraft has covered about 60 percent of the distance for its trip from Earth to Mars. It will fly about 40-million kilometers (25-million miles) farther before it enters orbit around Mars. It will spend half a year gradually adjusting the shape of its orbit, then begin its science phase. During that phase, it will return more data about Mars than all previous missions combined. The spacecraft has already set a record transmission rate for an interplanetary mission, successfully returning data at 6 megabits per second, fast enough to fill a CD-ROM every 16 minutes.

'Today’s maneuver mainly increases the speed to bring us to the target point at just the right moment,' said Tung-hanYou, chief of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter navigation team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. The intended nudge in velocity is 75 centimeters per second (less than 2 miles per hour). The spacecraft's speed relative to the sun is about 27 kilometers per second (61,000 miles per hour).

Four opportunities for course adjustments were planned into the schedule before launch. Today's, the second, used only the trajectory-correction engines. Each engine produces about 18 newtons (4 pounds)"

Monday, November 14, 2005

Space Exploration Technologies Corporation

More from SpaceX...the company keeps announcing new models!
Space Exploration Technologies Corporation

Saturday, November 12, 2005

Did the Soviets try to launch a nuclear weapon at Pearl Harbor in 1968?

I am reading this book and it is fascinating. Not sure if it is totally believable, so I found this critical review. In any event, spooky!
CONTEXT - This Week in Arts and Ideas from The Moscow Times